7 Mistakes Personal Trainers Often Make

If you're springing for a personal trainer, you want to make sure you're getting the best workout for your time. "That hour is yours, and it’s yours to do what you want to do with it," says Melissa Paris, founder of Melissa Paris Fitness. If your trainer is guilty of one of these mistakes, getting an optimal workout can be downright difficult. Check out a few of the more common transgressions to make sure your next trainer is sin-free.

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7 Mistakes Personal Trainers Make

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"It's okay if you're late, but a trainer never should be," says Paris. "And they should always confirm! Even if it's a regular appointment."
Paris says not every trainer will offer this, but if your trainer does reschedule on you or change your appointment at the last minute, she likes to give a free session to the client. "Other trainers hate me for it!" she says, though it may be worth checking if your trainer has a similar policy.

If you're looking to work on a specific skill -- like, say, boxing or kettlebell training -- you need a trainer who is certified in the area you'd like to concentrate on. And though any trainer can research to teach you how to do a kettlebell throw, not all of them should.
"If I had a client who really wanted to work on something I wasn't trained to do, I'd make a referral to someone else who could help them," says Paris. Make sure to ask your gym -- or your current trainer -- if you'd like to learn a specialty workout from someone qualified to teach it to you.

"A lot of clients don't care, but you really don't want to be with a trainer whose eating and drinking anything other than water during that hour you have with them," says Paris.

"Your trainer should do a medical history and fitness evaluation on you when you first start, and at the very least, they should ask you if you have injuries," says Paris. You don't want to get stuck with a trainer who doesn't know you've torn your ACL and asks you for sprints around the track , she says.

Your trainer should never be checking their phone while they're working with you. "I always leave my phone in my locker," says Paris. "It's your hour."

A good trainer shouldn't push you past the point where you'll want to come back, says Paris. "It's just like going to get your hair cut. If you say 'I don't want four inches off, I want a trim,' and they cut four inches off, you're not going to go back to that person," she says. "A trainer should motivate someone the way they want to be motivated."
But that doesn't mean you get to call the shots. "If you don't like something that's a really good move that's gonna get your heart rate up, that's kind of too bad, you're gonna do it anyway," she says. "It will only be 10 reps, and you won't have to do it every time, but you don't get to skip it if you don't like it. If you're in pain, that's another story," she explains. A good trainer will take care to see if it's real discomfort or just distaste for squat thrusts.

A lot of trainers will get, um, overly friendly with their clients. There are situations where this is acceptable -- Paris says she will sometimes go grocery shopping with her clients to help them stay on track -- but if your trainer is getting too close to comfort, let them know, whether it's too many emails to your work address or too-friendly texts.